The Anniversaries Thread

Lots of stuff has gone on recently in the Millionaire calendar:

Before Ed Toutant, there was David Honea.





I've noticed there was some faulty question writing during the August 1999 series of U.S. Millionaire. There was this, the $64,000 question. Lake Michigan is larger than Lake Huron in volume, but not in area. Therefore, David Honea won $64,000 and he was later invited back. 

On that same episode, we got my favorite contestant of all time in Millionaire history:



Obviously, he was confused, as his Ask the Audience was restored to him because of his $100 question. So, remember, my fellow Millionaire fans, if you make a mistake in a question for an RPG, and hopefully you don't, but if you do, just remember the actual question writers have clearly had problems.

Then, this happened nine years ago yesterday:







It's the co-biggest winner on the 10th Anniversary Specials. Nik Bonaddio. We had a Million Dollar Question, but we all know what happened there.

Me, personally, I think Nik had an easy question for $100,000, but that's just me.

I cannot think of a sadder anniversary on the Millionaire calendar than June 27. This, however, might be second.




Let's all take in and first bask in the great graphics for the 10th Anniversary of the flashbacks through the years. Let me also mention how old I feel, stunned that it's been nine years. I was in high school then. I remember watching this episode vividly. 

I think the 10th Anniversary had some relatively easy questions. We pick up with Jim Robinson going for $25,000. He wins it by phoning a friend, who identifies Christopher Walken asks for more cowbell in a Saturday Night Live sketch. Jim also correctly answers that the West Indies are just north of Venezuela, but unsuccessfully double dips on his $100,000 question, which asks the No. 1 movie in America as of August 1, 2009. I didn't know it, and certainly don't blame Jim for not knowing it either, but that's not an overly tough question like others might be at $100,000. That's just my opinion.

So, we get that fastest finger, and it's time to fill that chair. It asks to put the states in order of population, starting with the smallest, which is Wyoming, Delaware, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. It might be a race against the clock, pressure, but not everybody gets this right.

I also noticed Regis said, "Everybody's finished" compared to when he said "Time's up" before for the fastest finger. Did they change it?

We meet Ken Basin, the soon-to-be most infamous contestant in the history of American Millionaire. He certainly has a lot of confidence in himself, going to say to let Bill Nye know he will be needed as an Ask the Expert lifeline when he correctly answers his $1,000 question. I certainly thought he was going to win the million. He was cruising, and didn't need a lifeline until his $100,000 question.

Being bold and brave is what got him to the $1 Million question in the first place. He took a risk on his $250,000 question and that $500,000 correct answer was legendary. All of his phone-a-friends were Jeopardy contestants. Jerome Vered was an undefeated five day champion in 1992, and you might recall he was in the finals of the Ultimate Tournament of Champions on Jeopardy against Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in 2005.

I do not know of any footage of Ken Basin in the 2003 Jeopardy College Tournament. His girlfriend, Pam Mueller, once won it. She also was on for the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, Battle of the Decades, Syndicated Millionaire and 500 Questions.

The fact Ken graduated high school at 16 and went to Harvard Law shows how smart he is, even if he didn't make the smartest choice in the hot seat. I certainly did not know it.

Looking back on it, here would have been my reasoning for Fresca.

The correct answer is seldom the same letter choice as the question before. Since Ken correctly answered C, Grace Kelly for $500,000, it was possible, but not likely that C was going to be the correct answer for $1 Million. Since Lyndon Johnson was a Texan, as Regis pointed out, he would have thought A&W, but in my opinion, this was the decoy, the obvious answer.

I could not imagine Johnson being the type to drink a V8. So, I would have gone for Fresca in hindsight, using this logic. I did not know this at the time. In fact, I had never heard of Fresca or Yoo-hoo when this aired. This was the first time it ever happened in America, but it was rather common to miss the final question in Japan.

It looks like Ken is doing well for himself nowadays. He's listed as the Senior Vice President of Business Affairs for Paramount Television. He might not have been a Millionaire in 2009. He probably is one in 2018. Apparently he thought he saw Johnson having a Yoo-hoo with the Beatles, though I don't think such a photo has ever been shown. Apparently he's also going to teach at his alma mater.

hls.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/11308/Basin

harvardjsel.com/2015/04/interview-with-professor-ken-basin/ - Scroll down to the bottom for this one.

So, what a bummer. We do get Regis playing as a contestant for $50,000 for his charity, which asks which has never been the answer to a winning million dollar question on the primetime version of the show. Richard Nixon, obviously, was. Then he remembered Dan Blonsky's 93 million answer. He did not remember David Goodman's Peru answer, though, and double dipped. The Grapes of Wrath was never a choice for a million dollar question, but John Steinbeck was for Tom Hoobler's question.

I think it's also nice that the other nine fastest finger contestants were allowed to be the first nine allowed on that season's syndicated version. You might remember the very memorable Alan Carver.



We need Primetime Millionaire, preferably with Regis, back in August 2019. I don't know if it's going to happen, but I'm holding out hope. We'll have a happier anniversary tomorrow after this rather somber one. 

Has it really been 19 years since Michael Shutterly won $500,000?

I certainly remember watching it, being excited and happy somebody got the $500,000 right, though I had no clue the answer, but I remember Regis saying it was Jethro Tull. I honestly got goosebumps watching it again just now when Regis said, "Half million dollars," Shutterly saying, "Half Million Dollars," with Regis saying "And you won it."

Hearing the loud cheering, goodness. That was a moment. Apparently Michael was also a Jeopardy champion back in 1988. Being on Jeopardy seems like a gateway show, if you catch my drift. People who are contestants on Jeopardy tend to thrive on other quiz shows, with Millionaire being no exception, though he had a unique habit of referring to letter answers as numbers. 

It seems like he mismanaged his phone-a-friend. Why did he call his mom? Was it just to say he got into the hot seat? He went for it, and got it. I think that makes sense, and I also played Mission: Impossible on the N64, so I think that actually made sense, the $250,000 question, since those of you who also played that game might recall the mission of the Embassy Function.

It looks like Michael is also the secretary of the Richmond Coin Club. I think his picture is on the left: www.richmondcoinclub.com/club-officers.html


Also, Happy Birthday, Regis. The greatest host of the greatest game show of all time is celebrating his birthday today. Isn't it something that the first-ever Million Dollar Question happened to be on Regis' birthday? 

I did read that she passed away. Yes. How unfortunate. May she R.I.P. 46 is way too young. 

She very well could have not known, but it sounds like someone else was with her? Maybe that person could have known just like another person in the background knew David Goodman's question. 

Forgive me, then, if that isn't him. It sure does look like him. 

Might as well chuck in this 20th anniversary video made by the official WWTBAM YouTube channel.

It is a nice montage, but I have a couple of critiques. 

#1 How do you show international versions of the show in this montage and not show Primetime or any clips from the U.S. version? 

#2 Why not show any footage from the very first episode? 

This is is the reason we are all here, because of what happened on this day 20 years ago, and we have all fallen in love with it. I am also curious why they would do 20th Anniversary episodes in May and not September. 

I will have more information and content later. There are actually two big anniversaries on this day. The first one is the biggest of them all. The second one is also significant on the Millionaire calendar. 

Logie Bear, that's a good point.


I'm not sure how many of you have seen this. Some of you may even remember it, but we all have to start somewhere as far as promotion goes. 



Coming soon, and it came 20 years ago tonight. What a glorious 20 years it has been. I think we can all agree Millionaire is a lot better than whatever was going on. Chris sold this and made it seem really simple.

Chris talks about the game, now we get to see what it is:



The lighting and background is very interesting, as it has the set we all know and love, though some things being used early on. Notice how no fastest finger contestant is waving or anything. Some of them aren't looking at the camera. This is where Chris explains the intricacies of the game, and of course, the first ever fastest finger first question, which is a little different than most people are used to. As you may know, Australia used this format on the fastest finger first for the longest time, too.

27-year-old drama student Graham Elwell is the winner, and he really cruises along, answering the first 10 questions without a lifeline. He manages to win 64,000, which, in my opinion, is an enormous success for the very first contestant on the show. That answer cue on 64,000 is so different, and not like anything any of us are accustomed to.

We also aren't used to the phone-a-friend, the ringing and a contestant using a physical phone for this lifeline. Graham did not ask the audience here, but there's also loud cheering by the audience, which, as many of you know or probably picked up, the British are more subdued with their clapping and cheering than America is.

For those who want to see what Graham is up to in recent years: 



Rachel De Costa is the next contestant, although she doesn't answer many questions in the episode before she returns as the first ever rollover contestant. 

So, we fast forward one year later, to the one-year anniversary in 1999. What do we get here?



Does anybody in the U.K. know when the question and four possible answers for fastest finger first debuted? Does anybody also know when Chris officially adopted final answer? I would love to know the etymology of final answer, and whether it was Chris or somebody behind the scenes who came up with it.

It took the British some time to catch up to things from their counterparts in the U.S. Britain didn't have its first 250,000 winner until one year in. America gets its first $250,000 and $500,000 winner in its debut run of August of 1999. As I'm sure you all know, Britain doesn't get its first Million Pound Question until January 2000, when John Carpenter has already won it in the U.S. and David Fite has seen the Million Dollar Question following Michael Shutterly and Carpenter. Britain doesn't get its first Millionaire until after six Millionaires in the U.S.

Jonathan showed a lot of guts, and put a lot of trust in his phone-a-friend, who was correct. Then he gets a question on Henry VIII's wives, and the audience is actually correct for 500,000, but it isn't decisive, and Jonathan walks. 

So, how about that? The first Million Dollar Question comes on Regis' birthday. The first 250,000 winner in Britain comes exactly one year to the day the show premiered. 

What a 20 years it has been. It seems so surreal it has been that long, but so many people's lives have been changed due to this show. I don't know how it popped into the creators' heads to do this, or the inspiration of the Strachans to compose the beautiful, amazing music to this masterpiece of a game, but being the diehard fan that I am, I am forever grateful that all of the elements came together for the reason all of us are here.